diff --git a/.github/workflows/code.yml b/.github/workflows/code.yml
index 0063f51c..5daf65fb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/code.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/code.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       max-parallel: 4
       matrix:
-        python-version: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10.8]
+        python-version: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10.13]
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 78730c0d..180b59bf 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -220,12 +220,26 @@ e.g.: the CLI option ``auth-address`` becomes ``auth_address`` in the
           - 10.10.10.1
           - 10.10.10.2
           - 10.10.10.3
+        opts:
+          batch_size: 16384
+          max_request_size: 1048576
+          buffer_memory: 33554432
+          send_buffer_bytes: 131072
+          max_in_flight_requests_per_connection: 5
+          retries: 0
+          max_block_ms: 60000
+          linger_ms: 1000
 
 The configuration above listens to the syslog messages from the Kafka bootstrap
 servers ``10.10.10.1``, ``10.10.10.2`` and ``10.10.10.3`` then publishes the
 structured objects encrypted and serialized via ZeroMQ, serving them at the
 address ``172.17.17.2``, port ``49017``.
 
+The opts listed there are the kafka producer options that the napalm-logs exposes
+They are directly named in the same way as the kafka python3 package:
+https://kafka-python.readthedocs.io/en/master/apidoc/KafkaProducer.html
+These opts are optional - you can chose to add them completely, only partially or not at all.
+
 Check the complete list of configuration options under
 :ref:`configuration-options`.
 
diff --git a/docs/options/index.rst b/docs/options/index.rst
index ddd7f60f..60a7c393 100644
--- a/docs/options/index.rst
+++ b/docs/options/index.rst
@@ -344,6 +344,34 @@ Configuration file example:
 
   hwm: 0
 
+.. _configuration-backlog:
+
+``backlog``: 100
+-------------
+
+.. versionadded:: 0.11.0
+
+The zmq backlog option shall set the maximum length of the queue of outstanding peer 
+connections for the specified socket; this only applies to connection-oriented transports.
+This is used for both external zmq publishers but also but the internally defined zmq that 
+saves the messages before sending them to the configured publishers.
+
+This option can be used to tune the performances of the napalm-logs. 
+While the default limit should be generally enough, in environments with extremely high 
+density of syslog messages to be processed, it is recommended to increase this value.
+
+CLI usage example:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  $ napalm-logs --backlog 0
+
+Configuration file example:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+  backlog: 0
+
 .. _configuration-options-keyfile:
 
 ``keyfile``
diff --git a/napalm_logs/base.py b/napalm_logs/base.py
index 7d36f107..f727125e 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/base.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/base.py
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ def __init__(
         device_blacklist=[],
         device_whitelist=[],
         hwm=None,
+        backlog=None,
         device_worker_processes=1,
         serializer="msgpack",
         buffer=None,
@@ -128,6 +129,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.serializer = serializer
         self.device_worker_processes = device_worker_processes
         self.hwm = hwm
+        self.backlog = backlog
         self._buffer_cfg = buffer
         self._buffer = None
         # Setup the environment
@@ -209,6 +211,7 @@ def _post_preparation(self):
         already setup).
         """
         self.opts["hwm"] = CONFIG.ZMQ_INTERNAL_HWM if self.hwm is None else self.hwm
+        self.opts["backlog"] = CONFIG.ZMQ_INTERNAL_BACKLOG if self.backlog is None else self.backlog
         self.opts["_server_send_unknown"] = False
         for pub in self.publisher:
             pub_name = list(pub.keys())[0]
@@ -631,7 +634,7 @@ def _start_srv_proc(self, started_os_proc):
 
     def _start_pub_px_proc(self):
         """ """
-        px = NapalmLogsPublisherProxy(self.opts["hwm"])
+        px = NapalmLogsPublisherProxy(self.opts["hwm"], self.opts["backlog"])
         proc = Process(target=px.start)
         proc.start()
         proc.description = "Publisher proxy process"
diff --git a/napalm_logs/config/__init__.py b/napalm_logs/config/__init__.py
index 67ca7f2d..e0f98b4f 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/config/__init__.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/config/__init__.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 LOG_FILE = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, "var", "log", "napalm", "logs")
 LOG_FILE_CLI_OPTIONS = ("cli", "screen")
 ZMQ_INTERNAL_HWM = 1000
+ZMQ_INTERNAL_BACKLOG = 100
 METRICS_ADDRESS = "0.0.0.0"
 METRICS_PORT = 9443
 METRICS_DIR = "/tmp/napalm_logs_metrics"
diff --git a/napalm_logs/device.py b/napalm_logs/device.py
index 47f02e81..9b782cd0 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/device.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/device.py
@@ -177,13 +177,13 @@ def _parse(self, msg_dict):
                 ret[key] = result
             return ret
         if error_present is True:
-            log.info(
+            log.debug(
                 "Configured regex did not match for os: %s tag %s",
                 self._name,
                 msg_dict.get("tag", ""),
             )
         else:
-            log.info(
+            log.debug(
                 "Syslog message not configured for os: %s tag %s",
                 self._name,
                 msg_dict.get("tag", ""),
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ def start(self):
             "Counter of failed OpenConfig object generations",
             ["device_os"],
         )
-        if self.opts.get("metrics_include_attributes", True):
+        if self.opts.get("metrics_include_attributes", False):
             napalm_logs_device_published_messages_attrs = Counter(
                 "napalm_logs_device_published_messages_attrs",
                 "Counter of published messages, with more granular selection",
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ def start(self):
             self.pub.send(umsgpack.packb(to_publish))
             # self._publish(to_publish)
             napalm_logs_device_published_messages.labels(device_os=self._name).inc()
-            if self.opts.get("metrics_include_attributes", True):
+            if self.opts.get("metrics_include_attributes", False):
                 napalm_logs_device_published_messages_attrs.labels(
                     device_os=self._name,
                     error=to_publish["error"],
diff --git a/napalm_logs/listener/kafka.py b/napalm_logs/listener/kafka.py
index 2232933b..14545cd4 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/listener/kafka.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/listener/kafka.py
@@ -70,13 +70,15 @@ def receive(self):
             log.error("Received kafka error: %s", error, exc_info=True)
             raise ListenerException(error)
         log_source = msg.key
+        if isinstance(log_source, bytes):
+            log_source = log_source.decode()
         try:
             decoded = json.loads(msg.value.decode("utf-8"))
         except ValueError:
             log.error("Not in json format: %s", msg.value.decode("utf-8"))
             return "", ""
         log_message = decoded.get("message")
-        log.debug("[%s] Received %s from %s", log_message, log_source, time.time())
+        log.debug("[%s] Received from kafka %s from %s", log_message, log_source, time.time())
         return log_message, log_source
 
     def stop(self):
diff --git a/napalm_logs/listener/tcp.py b/napalm_logs/listener/tcp.py
index 9f2989e4..65efd7c8 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/listener/tcp.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/listener/tcp.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def _client_connection(self, conn, addr):
                     # log.debug('Received empty message from %s', addr)
                     # disabled ^ as it was too noisy
                     continue
-                log.debug("[%s] Received %s from %s", time.time(), msg, addr)
+                log.debug("[%s] Received from tcp %s from %s", time.time(), msg, addr)
                 messages = []
                 if isinstance(msg, bytes):
                     msg = msg.decode("utf-8")
diff --git a/napalm_logs/listener/udp.py b/napalm_logs/listener/udp.py
index b8e161c0..1b6be699 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/listener/udp.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/listener/udp.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def receive(self):
         except socket.error as error:
             log.error("Received listener socket error: %s", error, exc_info=True)
             raise ListenerException(error)
-        log.debug("[%s] Received %s from %s", msg, addr, time.time())
+        log.debug("[%s] Received from udp %s from %s", msg, addr, time.time())
         return msg, addr[0]
 
     def stop(self):
diff --git a/napalm_logs/listener_proc.py b/napalm_logs/listener_proc.py
index 727322e0..97a865e2 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/listener_proc.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/listener_proc.py
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ def start(self):
         while self.__up:
             try:
                 log_message, log_source = self.listener.receive()
+                if isinstance(log_source, bytes):
+                    log_source = log_source.decode()
             except ListenerException as lerr:
                 if self.__up is False:
                     log.info("Exiting on process shutdown")
diff --git a/napalm_logs/pub_proxy.py b/napalm_logs/pub_proxy.py
index 8a67f392..cbeb3b0d 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/pub_proxy.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/pub_proxy.py
@@ -29,8 +29,9 @@ class NapalmLogsPublisherProxy(NapalmLogsProc):
     Internal IPC proxy sub-process class.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, hwm):
+    def __init__(self, hwm, backlog):
         self.hwm = hwm
+        self.backlog = backlog
         self.__up = False
 
     def _exit_gracefully(self, signum, _):
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ def _setup_ipc(self):
         self.sub.setsockopt(zmq.SUBSCRIBE, b"")
         log.debug("Setting HWM for the proxy frontend: %d", self.hwm)
         self.sub.setsockopt(zmq.SNDHWM, self.hwm)
+        self.sub.setsockopt(zmq.BACKLOG, self.backlog)
         # Backend
         self.pub = self.ctx.socket(zmq.PUB)
         self.pub.bind(PUB_IPC_URL)
diff --git a/napalm_logs/server.py b/napalm_logs/server.py
index 5281ae41..c6e899a6 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/server.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/server.py
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ def start(self):
             "napalm_logs_server_messages_unknown_queued",
             "Count of messages queued as unknown",
         )
-        if self.opts.get("metrics_include_attributes", True):
+        if self.opts.get("metrics_include_attributes", False):
             napalm_logs_server_messages_attrs = Counter(
                 "napalm_logs_server_messages_attrs",
                 "Count of messages from the server process with their details",
diff --git a/napalm_logs/transport/kafka.py b/napalm_logs/transport/kafka.py
index 8969b548..e451ddaa 100644
--- a/napalm_logs/transport/kafka.py
+++ b/napalm_logs/transport/kafka.py
@@ -21,7 +21,16 @@
 from napalm_logs.transport.base import TransportBase
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
+kafka_producer_opts = {
+    "batch_size": 16384,
+    "max_request_size": 1048576,
+    "buffer_memory": 33554432, #32MB
+    "send_buffer_bytes": 131072,
+    "max_in_flight_requests_per_connection": 5,
+    "retries": 0,
+    "max_block_ms": 60000,
+    "linger_ms": 0
+}
 
 class KafkaTransport(TransportBase):
     """
@@ -39,18 +48,32 @@ def __init__(self, address, port, **kwargs):
             self.bootstrap_servers = kwargs["bootstrap_servers"]
         else:
             self.bootstrap_servers = "{}:{}".format(address, port)
+        if kwargs.get("opts"):
+            self.opts = kwargs["opts"]
+        else:
+            self.opts = kafka_producer_opts
         self.kafka_topic = kwargs.get("topic", "napalm-logs")
 
     def start(self):
         try:
             self.producer = kafka.KafkaProducer(
-                bootstrap_servers=self.bootstrap_servers
-            )
+                bootstrap_servers=self.bootstrap_servers,
+                batch_size=self.opts.get("batch_size", kafka_producer_opts["batch_size"]),
+                max_request_size=self.opts.get("max_request_size", kafka_producer_opts["max_request_size"]),
+                buffer_memory=self.opts.get("buffer_memory", kafka_producer_opts["buffer_memory"]),
+                send_buffer_bytes=self.opts.get("send_buffer_bytes", kafka_producer_opts["send_buffer_bytes"]),
+                max_in_flight_requests_per_connection=self.opts.get("max_in_flight_requests_per_connection", kafka_producer_opts["max_in_flight_requests_per_connection"]),
+                retries=self.opts.get("retries", kafka_producer_opts["retries"]),
+                max_block_ms=self.opts.get("max_block_ms", kafka_producer_opts["max_block_ms"]),
+                linger_ms=self.opts.get("linger_ms", kafka_producer_opts["linger_ms"]),
+             )
         except kafka.errors.NoBrokersAvailable as err:
             log.error(err, exc_info=True)
             raise NapalmLogsException(err)
 
     def publish(self, obj):
+        if isinstance(obj, str):
+            obj = obj.encode()
         self.producer.send(self.kafka_topic, obj)
 
     def stop(self):